Pokémon Red Version (Japanese: ポケットモンスター 赤Pocket Monsters: Red) and Pokémon Green Version (Japanese: ポケットモンスター 緑Pocket Monsters: Green) were the first Pokémon games ever released to the public, in Japan on February 27, 1996.[3][4] Introducing the gameplay concepts that went on to provide the standard for games in the core series, these games were eventually localized and released worldwide as Pokémon Red and Blue Versions, using a combination of the engine from the Japanese Pokémon Blue Version and the obtainable Pokémon from Red and Green. Much as would become standard, Red and Green were later joined by a solitary version, the aforementioned Blue, which slightly improved upon their features and provided the code for the international releases (Red and Blue), and eventually Pokémon Yellow, a second solitary version based on the anime.

During their travels, the player will encounter the villainous Team Rocket and their boss Giovanni, a criminal gang that treat Pokémon as tools, rather than train them as friends and partners. The player must defeat them to put a stop to their crimes, which include killing a Marowak while keeping Mr. Fuji hostage, and taking control of Silph Co. to obtain plans for the Master Ball. The rival will also continuously challenge the player to a battle, with an increasingly powerful team. As the player's own Pokémon become more powerful, he or she draws closer to the Indigo Plateau.

Between the battles with Team Rocket, their rival, and other trainers, the player journeys across the region, defeating all the Gym Leaders: Brock, Misty, Lt. Surge, Erika, Koga, Sabrina and Blaine. The eighth and final Gym Leader is Team Rocket's boss, Giovanni, who disbands the team after his final defeat within his Gym. After defeating all eight Gym Leaders, the player goes on to challenge the Elite Four: Lorelei, Bruno, Agatha, and Lance, and finally, in the last battle, the current Champion, the player's rival.

The player becomes the Champion after defeating their rival and is commended by Professor Oak for their friendship with Pokémon. After becoming Champion, the player will be allowed to enter the mysterious Cerulean Cave, filled with strong Pokemon, where the Legendary Mewtwo awaits.

Connectivity

Players may trade Pokémon between two cartridges or battle with another cartridge using a Game BoyGame Link Cable. To take full advantage of this feature, several Pokémon are exclusive to each game of the pair and others require trading to evolve, making trading necessary to complete the Pokédex. The games can trade and battle with Japanese versions of Pokémon Red, Green, Blue and Pokémon Yellow. They can also trade with Japanese versions of Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal via the Time Capsule. Pokémon Red and Green are completely incompatible with games from Generation III onward.

Trades between Pokémon games in different languages are possible; however, a Japanese game cannot connect with a non-Japanese game without causing corruption. This is due to the fact that the games cannot automatically translate the Pokémon data from Japanese to a different language or vice versa, since neither game fully encodes both kana and the Latin alphabet (only encoding one fully and the other partially). If a battle between a Japanese game and a non-Japanese game is attempted, the battle simply does not work, with the save files left unharmed.

Virtual Console

The Nintendo 3DSVirtual Console releases use 3DS wireless communication as a substitute for the Game Link Cable. Japanese and non-Japanese Generation I core series games do not recognize each other when attempting to link them via 3DS wireless communication.

Using Poké Transporter, the entirety of Box 1 can be sent from the Generation I core series games to Pokémon Bank (regardless of language), from where they can be withdrawn in the Generation VII core series games.

Pokémon

Each game contains pre-recorded data on 151 different species of Pokémon, including Mew, a Pokémon even Nintendo was not aware of initially.[5] However, not all Pokémon are available to the player, regardless of version; trades must occur between players in order to complete their Pokédex without the use of cheats or glitches. In addition, Mew is not normally obtainable in either game; the only legitimate way to obtain Mew is through a Nintendo sponsored event.

The following Pokémon are only obtainable in one game of this pair. In order to obtain Pokémon exclusive to the other game of this pair, they must be traded either from that game or from another compatible game of Generation I or Generation II which has that Pokémon available.

Differences in the Virtual Console release

The Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console releases can link with other Virtual Console Generation I core series games via Nintendo 3DS wireless communication, simulating the Game Link Cable. When initiating a link, the Virtual Console menu on the touch screen replaces the Cable Club attendant's dialogue.

Legacy

Pocket Monsters Red and Green set the precedent for what has become a blockbuster, multi-billion dollar franchise. In Japan, Red, Green, and the third version Blue combined have sold 10.23 million copies.[6] In the United States, Pokémon Red has sold 4.83 million copies, while Pokémon Blue has sold 5.02 million copies.[7] These numbers combine to make a total of 9.85 million copies sold in the US.

Version history

Version

Changelog

1.0

Initial release

1.1

As a possible attempt at fixing the Select glitch, v1.1 restricts the player from performing the Select glitch solely within a battle (through pressing Select in the inventory from a battle, exiting and pressing A on a Pokémon from the party menu). Despite this, the Select glitch can still be performed if Select was pressed on an item from outside of battle first. The glitch continued in Japanese Blue before being fixed in Japanese Yellow.

v1.0 features a corrupted data error message ("じぶんの データが こわれています！" or "あいての データが こわれています！") if the user or the opponent attempts to trade or battle when either has the 0x60 character "Ａ" as the first character in their name. v1.1 and all other releases remove the error message.

v1.1 introduces a glitch with partial trapping moves in which the user unintentionally faints at the same time as the opponent after the opponent faints due to poison or burn during the immobile turn of a partial trapping move used by the opponent. Although the user's Pokémon faints, it can still be sent out from the Pokémon menu with the amount of HP it had before the glitch.

The locations of internal functions (e.g. the bank switch function) are changed.

There are some unintended differences in glitches. For example, a glitch item known as GoldBadge (hex:6A) brings up a Poké Mart exclusively in v1.0.

Development

Pokémon Red and Green had many pre-release elements that differ from the final release, although Pokémon Red and Blue would later have several altered aspects of their own during the two-and-a-half years between the release of Red and Green, their bug-fixing release, Blue, and the release of the merger of the trio into Red and Blue for overseas markets.

An error made during development causes the Pokémon depicted during Professor Oak's introductory lecture to be a Nidorino but with the cry of a Nidorina. It was not fixed in the Japanese Blue or in Red and Blue.

Soundtrack

The Game Boy: Entire Pokémon Sounds Collection CD soundtrack, released on November 1, 1997, contains all of the background music and sound effects used in the games, all of which were composed solely by Junichi Masuda. This includes Pokémoncries and Pokédex entries read by "Dexter", Ash's Pokédex. A reissue of the Red and Green soundtrack will be released on April 27, 2016 as Pokémon Red and Green Super Music Collection.

Staff

Flyers

Trivia

Pre-release flyer with the earlier release date

Development of Red and Green started during 1990, making their development the longest of all Pokémon games by far.

The game's main characters, Red and Green, have several default names, among them サトシ Satoshi and シゲル Shigeru, respectively. These names come from Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri and his friend and fellow Nintendo developer, Shigeru Miyamoto. When the games were translated into the English Red and Blue, the default names became Red and Blue. Alternative names that could be chosen were Ash and Gary, after the anime characters that share the names Satoshi and Shigeru, respectively.

While Red and Green are the first Pokémon games released, they were not necessarily the first Pokémon trademark ever registered. Mew was the first Pokémon trademark ever applied for; the application for the Pokémon was submitted on May 9, 1990, while the application for Pocket Monsters Red and Green was submitted on September 11, 1995. Before Red and Green were granted registered trademarks on December 26, 1997, Mew (then spelled ミュー, not ミュウ) had already become the first Pokémon trademark registered, granted on March 31, 1994; ミュウ was later granted on August 6, 1999.

Mew was added to the internal data after the debugging features were removed. The programmers took a great risk in doing so, since further tests for glitches that would have been caused by adding Mew could not be done, which goes against standard programming procedures.

The games were originally scheduled for a December 21, 1995 release, according to an old Nintendo of Japan flyer.[8] This could explain the copyright year of 1995 that appears in the games' introductory sequence, and all subsequent games and official merchandise.